“But stuff happens in the NBA,” Sam Smith writes on MSNBC.com, “so even if I’m picking the San Antonio Spurs to win their fourth NBA championship since 1999, I’m not exactly ready to head for Las Vegas.”

Sheesh, have some backbone, will ya?

Spurs in six, it says here. Let’s play ball.

Boobie Trap

One blogger noted that there were some women sporting, um, interesting T-shirts in Cleveland the other night.

“Detroit,” the shirts noted, “can’t handle our Boobie.”

Indeed. But let’s see what the Spurs can do.

The gent over at PressBreak insists that Daniel Gibson was always a keeper, but was miscast by Rick Barnes at Texas.

“Gibson was never consistently the player in college that every scout knew he could be — which caused him to fall so far in the draft — mostly because his coach, Rick Barnes, misplaced him at point guard,” the writer insists. “He was clearly the best talent on the floor, so Barnes decided to put the ball in his hands as much as possible; he was, of course, responsible for bringing it up, running the plays, drawing the defense and ultimately, too often, getting rid of the ball. Barnes asked him to create so much for other people, in fact, that he eventually forced his shots just so he could have some, and rarely found his rhythm.”

Gotta Cav It

 It’s a familiar theme these days, and ESPN explores it. Now, the pupils take on the masters.

 Brazilian Anderson Varejao of the Cavs isn’t only one of the league’s outstanding floppers, he’s got a nasty reputation for flying elbows. Just ask this Greek player, battered in last year’s FIBA World Championships.

“Let’s face it, another Finals triumph over the Pistons would have been sparsely viewed by general NBA fans and apathetically covered by the media,” Matthew Powell, of PoundingTheRock, opines. “How exactly would the writers have framed the contest? A rematch of the ’05 finals: a rematch no one outside of Detroit and San Antonio wanted to see. Hell, even I was at least partially dreading having to watch that series.

“But thanks to Lebron (with a nod to the Pistons poor coaching, defense, effort, everything) the context for the finals has been changed.”

“The biggest winner in the NBA Finals?” he writes. “ABC and ESPN, which gets to pit the otherwise unlikeable dynasty team of the decade against the league’s most marketable individual star. That sure beats the Spurs-Pistons dud it looked like it was going to be a week ago.”

“So, starting on Thursday night, it’ll be the Cavaliers and Spurs about whom the Pussycat Dolls will sing,” the site notes. “An exciting match-up? Depends on what you’re looking for. If it’s star power you want, LeBron James vs. Tim Duncan certainly qualifies. But if it’s high scores you want … I hope you can settle for star power.”

 We Are the Postmen tab the Spurs to win the crown, “and that’s fine.” But, it adds, “LeBron has made the Finals far more worthy of our attention than the Pistons could have. That’s his greatest accomplishment yet.”

Surf’s Up

 LeBron James keeps a picture of his early-season dunk over Tim Duncan attached above his locker. Here, for your viewing pleasure, is that slam.

 Michael Jackson of ESPN Research says Fabricio Oberto of the Spurs is the third player since 1971 to average at least 10 points in the conference finals while shooting 70 percent or more from the floor. The other two were James Donaldson (’88) and James Worthy (’85).